5G to take consumer market by storm in 2021, Omdia predicts

A new paper released by market researcher Omdia states that shipments of 5G smartphones will grow eightfold in 2020.

The paper further states that the technology would play a key role in transforming the entire technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) industry as whole.

Omdia is a new entity which combines the research offerings of Ovum, Heavy Reading and Tractica, as well as IHS Markit’s technology research arm. The paper, the first from the company in preparation for the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC20) event in Barcelona, underscores a major strategic shift for communications service providers (CSPs) and all those involved in the TMT ecosystem, resulting from the wider adoption of 5G.

The 5G smartphone market across the globe is predicted to grow twofold in 2021, up from 29 million in 2019. This surge will be driven by declining device costs that will reach the $700-$800 range in the next two years, making them more affordable. The global 5G radio access market (RAN) will rise to $21bn in 2024. Moreover, brands would be using the technology to reduce privacy fears around AI, driving the revenue growth to $827bn in 2025 for edge devices and networks deployed for AI.

Last month, a study by Juniper Research found that mobile network operator voice revenue would drop to $208b by 2024 and would continue to prefer more flexible and free OTT voice services. The research forecasts that third-party OTT voice services will continue to grow, nearing 4.5 billion users by 2024.

Another study in the same month, from Berg Insight, has estimated smart city projects to gain new momentum in 2020, as more municipal government leaders adopt new technologies, such as the IoT and M2M communications. Street lighting is the area where adoption is worth mentioning. According to the study, the installed base of smart streetlights would reach 31.2 million in 2023.